Cranks but won't run

[SovereignDragon]

So when I got my bike my buddy tells me start it everyday or the battery will die from a drain. I have a powersports pt9b-4 battery in it. I had it on my slow charger and put it on the bike. Voltage was reading 12.48. I hit the button and it gave one hard crank then slowed fast. I checked voltage again and got 12.35 but when I hit the button it dropped to 8.65. The battery was just bought about 9 months ago. Does it sound to anyone else that there might be an issue here? Does this battery sound dead or is it not powerful enough to turn over the kat? It worked fine for a few days.

[Wild-Bill]

Sounds like your battery is dead. Any number of possible reasons why but there it is. You can troubleshoot by jumpering to a car battery (with the car engine off). If the bike starts cranks over well then the problem is your battery.

Before you go out and buy a new battery try putting it on a charger overnight at 2 Amp charge rate with the bike's battery terminals disconnected from the battery. Overnight should be enough to charge the battery as much as it'll charge. If you try charging at too high a rate then sometimes the battery won't take a full charge.

[Kreylyn]

So when I got my bike my buddy tells me start it everyday or the battery will die from a drain. I have a powersports pt9b-4 battery in it. I had it on my slow charger and put it on the bike. Voltage was reading 12.48. I hit the button and it gave one hard crank then slowed fast. I checked voltage again and got 12.35 but when I hit the button it dropped to 8.65. The battery was just bought about 9 months ago. Does it sound to anyone else that there might be an issue here? Does this battery sound dead or is it not powerful enough to turn over the kat? It worked fine for a few days.

Replace the battery. The CDI isn't getting enough power for the bike to run AND turn the motor over at the same time. The result is you will spend forever trying to get it to start and not with the starter.

A simple test in your case... Bump start/roll the bike off to start it. If it starts right up not using the starter (cause the battery is putting out enough without the drain from the starter) then it's pretty obvious... power issue.

Everytime a battery is allowed to discharge to near empty, you reduce the recharge capability. Running a battery dead does decrease it's efficiency.

Also if it's a liquid acid battery, proper maintenance such as fluid levels and charge must be checked regularly, or you will ruin the battery as well.

Krey

[SovereignDragon]

It's a newer sealed battery. I have a car battery that is fully charged and when I put cables from that battery to my Kat battery the bike does start. What should the voltage be idling at the battery. I let it warm up a couple nights ago and rode to the gas station to top off and then parked the bike. Only a couple minutes but when I got done filling the bike it didn't want to start but I managed to get it going. After I got it home it didn't want to start again. Also for the charge I've been using a smart trickle charger. It's only a 2 amp charger made for maintaining a battery. Once the voltage hits below a certain level it automatically fully charges the battery and then stops when it's full. It was left off the trickle charger for a while though so I'm wondering if that is my problem even though the battery is less than a year old. Thanks for the ideas everyone.

[Kreylyn]

The CDI needs 12v... Much less than and the bike won't run, even though 6v will turn the motor over... slowly, but it will turn it.

Your battery is dropping below what is needed for the CDI to provide spark to the engine for it to run when you use the starter. A battery that does this is bad.

Replace the battery IS the fix.

Krey

[SovereignDragon]

I really appreciate the help Krey. One more question though. Is there a super spiffy ultimate battery of awesomeness that the Kats electrical system just love? Or should I just stick with the old saying you get what you pay for?

[Kreylyn]

I really appreciate the help Krey. One more question though. Is there a super spiffy ultimate battery of awesomeness that the Kats electrical system just love? Or should I just stick with the old saying you get what you pay for?

Yuasa Sealed Battery if you want OEM speced.

There is a battery thread recently about a newer tech battery that was 1/4 the size, better output that could be made to work. It's about 2 X the yuasa battery, and that is upwards of $90.

Krey

[beachflyer]

got me a wally world battery for 40.00 and 2+ years running strong

[Wild-Bill]

Only thing good I can say about the Wally World Neverstarts is that they usually die before the warranty runs out. Oh, and they usually don't catch on fire when they do. I stopped buying them the second time I saw the burnt up remains of one on display at a shop that sold Yuasa batteries. (The first time I wrote it off as drama designed to sell higher-priced batteries.) Since then I buy Yuasa.

Again, try charging the battery overnight at 2A and see how it does in the morning. From the sounds of it, you're expecting the bike to recharge the battery from the starting draw after only a short trip to the gas station. I've heard that a car battery isn't fully recharged from starting until after about 10-20 minutes of driving. Don't imagine a bike battery is too far off that.